What to do before updating WordPress

1. Make a backup copy of the web and data bases

Backups or backup copies are the guarantee that everything can go back to the beginning without major consequences when you are experiencing a change in your web page.

Not only should you make a backup before updating WordPress, but you should make a backup every day. Remember, backups allow you to go back to a point where nothing that was lost has been lost.

It is always highly recommended to have backups, either in the case of updating WordPress automatically or manually, and there are systems that can help you create regular backups automatically.

To make backups or backups, you can directly access the web server administrator, for example cPanel. If you don't have access to it, you can do it through a plugin or automatic system that works with WordPress, such as UpdraftPlus.

2. Clear the web cache and disable the cache plugin

This may seem like an arbitrary step that is not often included when you want to update WordPress, but doing so is a good idea.

The cache plugin is intended to create pages that are served instantly to accelerate the loading and speed of the WordPress website. The problem is that this plugin may not be showing the latest version of your web page, while you need to see the latest changes to be sure that everything is fine.

If you don't deactivate this plugin and you don't clear the cache, you may be looking at the version of your page before the update.

It is also interesting that, when updating WordPress, you enter your web page in incognito mode of the browser ; In this incognito mode, cached pages are not shown in your web browser and thus you will see the updated pages.

Now that you have anticipated any inconvenience that may arise when updating WordPress, you can start updating your website with two possible methods: updating WordPress automatically or manually, let's see how!

How to update WordPress automatically

There is a consideration that you must take into account when updating WordPress automatically and that is that all the previous precautionary steps are not followed when the automatic update is scheduled.

You must analyze if, really, automation is what your website needs. I would only recommend automatic WordPress update in very specific cases.

This being cleared up, let's see what you should keep in mind.

Automate selective WordPress update

Once you have automated the creation of backups, as I mentioned before, you can also automate the update of the WordPress system, plugins and themes, using another plugin. In fact, there are plugins that help you link your page to a remote administration system, as is the case with InfiniteWP.

With other plugins, such as Easy Updates Manager, you can configure which WordPress updates you want to be installed automatically and when (for example, when it is a minor or major change). You are the one who decides how to update your WordPress system and its components.

With Easy Updates Manager you can customize automatic updates in WordPress; which ones to install, how and when.

In the case of ManageWP, you simply create the account for free and add your web pages that you want to update automatically. It has the support service of the website, although this function is paid.

How to update WordPress manually

Updating WordPress manually, through the administration panel (Wp Admin), which is what we recommend for most web pages is a fast process but, precisely because it is so tempting to do it quickly, we end up doing it wrong because we forget to do all the previous steps outlined above to do it safely.

Step by step to update WordPress manually

In this section, we must first install the available updates of the plugins and later, once the plugins have been updated, update the WordPress core system.

During the update process, both of the plugins and the WordPress system, the system itself takes control and is in charge of installing it, putting your website in maintenance mode until the entire update process is completed.

Once the update is completed, the system will notify you that the update has been completed successfully, or that there has been some kind of problem. In that second case, it is best to have it reviewed by a professional WordPress technical support expert service.

Re-enable the cache plugin

Once you have performed all the WordPress update actions, you only have to reactivate the cache plugin so that the system will recreate a temporary page that quickly serves Internet users who usually visit your website .

Remember that the cached copies of your page help speed up loading and that favors the user experience. Don't forget to reactivate the plugin.